Barolo village and the cru slopes

Barolo is smaller than its reputation: a few hundred metres of stone houses on a spur, a broad medieval castle at the top, and vines pressed right up to the last wall on every side.

The village itself gives close-in frames — a lane, a courtyard, the castle wall — but the reason to be here is the ring road that circles it. Within five minutes on foot you can be standing in a cru with the village above you and rows running away in every direction.

South-facing slopes catch light all day, which makes this an easier midday location than most vineyard spots; the strongest hour is still the last one, when the rows throw shadow and the village stone warms.

The vineyards are private and worked, so stay on the roads and the marked paths between plots, and never walk into a row without asking. In late September and October the harvest crews are out, and a session has to work around them rather than through them.